CHENEY, Wash. – The final home game of the 2020-21 season for the Eastern Washington University women's basketball team saw seven lead changes and five ties, but ended in a win for the visiting Montana Grizzlies who edged the Eagles 65-62 today at Reese Court (Feb. 20).
 
Kennedy Dickie led the way, tying a season-high 19 points to go with seven rebounds and five three-pointers. Maisie Burnham followed with 16 points, five assists and three steals. Jenna Dick played all 40 minutes, scoring nine points and grabbing seven boards.
 
"I'm really proud of our team's effort, I thought we played extremely hard short-handed. Montana is a physical team and I think that the players that needed to play well, played well," said head coach Wendy Schuller. "I'm proud of our kids for being resilient and continuing to battle throughout the course of the game and finding a way to put ourselves in a position to win, we just have to get over that hump. We shared the ball and played to each other's strengths really well today. Jenna Dick played all 40 minutes, and that's tough, especially against a good team like Montana. Overall, I'm just proud of our team for fighting today."
 
Dickie and Dick opened up the scoring for the Eagles with back-to-back three-pointers to take a 6-2 lead. The lead would stretch to 10-4 after four points from Burnham, but the Griz responded with a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the game, 13-10. Dickie's second triple of the day snapped the run and both teams moved into a 13-13 tie. Montana would build a 20-15 lead, but four free throws from Dickie, combined with holding the Griz without a field goal for the final 3:09 of play, made it a 20-19 game after the first quarter.
 
Burnham drained a three-pointer to put the Eagles back ahead 22-20 to start the third quarter. Montana found one-point via the free throw line, but Eastern Washington did not allow them to make a field goal until the 5:34 mark, which gave the Griz the 23-22 advantage back and the basket also turned into a 6-0 run to grow a 26-22 lead. Dickie's third triple of the game made it a one-point contest, 28-27, but Montana extended its lead to 30-27 at the half.
 
The third quarter was closely contested, with three lead changes and two ties. The first tie came after Grace Kirscher made a three-pointer to knot the game up 34-34, only for the Grizzlies to respond with a 5-0 run to pull ahead 39-34. Montana's lead eventually grew to 41-36 when Dickie and Dick were there again with back-to-back three-pointers to retake the 42-41 advantage. Once the Griz retook the lead after two free throws, 43-42, Milly Knowles made a layup and Gabrielle Jung made a free throw attempt to give the Eagles a 45-43 lead. The Eagles held Montana without a field goal for the final 3:10 of play and outscored the Grizzlies 18-13 in the third quarter to own a two-point lead with a quarter to play.
 
Both teams shot over 53 percent in the fourth quarter, and Montana owned a 53-47 lead that was cut once again by Knowles and Jung for a 5-0 run, putting Eastern back within a point, 53-52. That's when Montana found the momentum with an 8-0 run to grow a 61-57 advantage. With a minute and a half left on the clock, Dickie made her fifth three-pointer to snap the run and put the Eagles back into the game. With Montana leading 63-57 with less than 10 second left, Dick grabbed a loose ball and immediately shot and made her three-point attempt to cut the deficit to 63-60.
 
Burnham made a wide-open layup with seven seconds on the clock to make it a 64-62 game in favor of the Grizzlies. Montana then called timeout and advanced the ball and were fouled. They went 1-of-2 at the free throw line and hung on for the 65-62 victory.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Following today's loss, Eastern Washington is now 6-15 overall and 5-10 in Big Sky Conference play while Montana improves to 12-7 and 9-5 in league action.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Kennedy Dickie led all players in scoring, tying a season-high 19 points. All of her field goals came behind the three-point line, as she made five and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. She also led the way with seven rebounds, two steals and an assist.
 
Maisie Burnham was the other Eagle in double figures with 16 points on 6-of-13 from the field with two triples. She led the team with five assists and also added three steals.
 
Jenna Dick played all 40 minutes, scoring nine points. All of her field goals came from behind the three-point line as well, as she made three. She also led the team with seven rebounds and had three assists and a steal.
 
Milly Knowles finished with seven points, five rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: Rebounds and free throws were the difference in this afternoon's game. The Grizzlies out-rebounded Eastern Washington 48 to 31 and were 17-of-21 at the charity stripe to EWU's 8-of-10.
 
The Eagles were 21-of-58 from the field (36.2%) and 16 of their field goals were assisted. From three-point range, EWU was 12-of-28 while the Grizzlies were just 6-of-19. Montana shot 32.3 percent from the field overall, making 21 of its 65 field goal attempts.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington has a week off next week before returning to action to close out the regular season at Idaho State on Wednesday, March 3, and Friday, March 5. Both games are set to tip-off at 6 p.m. Pacific time in Pocatello, Idaho.